Would President Bush have made different decisions if he had experienced war; had seen his best friend die?

Question

USMC 1968-1971

Answer 1

Yes. All of our Presidents that have excperienced combat first hand are more reluctant to send others into war. Yhis does not mean they will not, it just means that they will be more likely to listen to their advisors and intel. President Bush (the smart one) sent us into Desert Storm, and we had a victory and we accomplished our mission, then came home. His son, declared victory while we are still fighting insurgents.

Answer 2

The answer you probably want to hear is not the one I'm going to give you, sorry.

Bush firmly believes that either we take the fight to where the enemy lives, or the enemy will be free to use our soil as the battleground. The fact that no successful terrorist attacks have happened since 9-11 proves the point. We've kept the terrorists so busy on their own turf, and made even communication, movement, and funding so difficult, they are reduced to crappy little stunts like blowing up buses in their own neighborhoods.

The only change in decision I can imagine Bush making had he experienced war first-hand is that he would have sent EVEN FEWER troops to fight the war, and secure the country. Since we didn't have enough to begin with, his wartime experience would actually have been a detriment.

Answer 3

I should certainly think so. He's always been sheltered from the harsh realities of life, so he has no way of knowing what it's like to see combat, become disabled in war, or see a friend die on the battlefield. Despite what some might say, serving in the Air National Guard (and not showing up most of the time) is NOT the same thing as serving in combat!

Answer 4

Last time I checked, When Bush was running in 99/2000. Foriegn conflicts weren't the big issue, unemployment and the economy were. Both of which he has done a good job on. Now everyone criticizes his miltitary experience (granted its important now) but it wasn't back in 2000. Remember no one even cared about the middle east back in 2000. We needed our econonmy fixed, he did a good job on that in Texas and so we voted him in 2000. Would we vote a Marine in to fix the economy? No, so people really should lay off that. But as for the next president, I think military is more important now so yes, I would vote McCain in because I think his decisions would be better because he experienced it.

Answer 5

I was about to provide a thought provoking answer to this question till I read the respon provided by pachl ... I think he pretty much summed it up. I will add that President Lincoln did not have war experience... hey, he was even a L-A-W-Y-E-R. However, he stayed the course and therefore today we have ONE country (the only superpower in the world) instead of TWO. I also noticed that someone pointed out that Senator (Hillary) Clinton has no war experience... although she does have experience with bad and evil men.

Answer 6

Bush saw the wizard a long time ago and received his knowledge the same way the scarecrow did . With this kind of individual operating as our leader we are all doomed to suffer his mistakes in judgment and in experience with negotiations which would have avoided this war .
It takes a much bigger intellect to avoid a war then it does some one incapable of grasping the concepts of negotiations and allowing authority and power to be used in substitution of rational bargaining and resolutions ..

Answer 7

No I do not believe he would have. Bush is merely a puppet in a much grander plan. Bush is following orders.

But we will never know will we. Because no one in the Bush administration has actually served in combat. They all got deferments or went into the national gaurd to avoid service.

Bush is a neocon and a puppet. So no.

Answer 8

Probably. It is really easy for the chicken hawks to provoke war when none of them have experienced the horrors of it. To the best of my knowledge, all of the current crop (the Bushies) did whatever was necessary to avoid combat. Most of the rich do.

Answer 9

Who knows? I doubt it. Even with his witnessing war or having a friend die he and his family see themselves above all the rest. A casualty or two means nothing if they achieve the ultimate goal of conquest and to vanquish the percieved enemy.

Answer 10

I don't know.

I think he's made the right decisions, on the whole.

I'm not sure the question is relevant.

We don't ask abortion rights advocates if they had ever seen one performed.

Please give us details about your service, so we can better verify your claim to have served.

thanks.